AMHERST — It all started with a simple conversation last year.
Josiah Johnson knew he wasn’t going to play quarterback during the 2018 season with four quarterbacks ahead of him who had plenty of experience in former coach Mark Whipple’s offense. So when Whipple began discussing an opportunity for Johnson to potentially play tight end for UMass, the idea was intriguing to the Jacksonville, Florida, native.
“I didn’t really expect to do much in the QB area that year,” Johnson said. “With Coach Whip coming to me and saying how if I switch over for that year, I’d have more of an opportunity to play and we’ll talk about it more next year about what we want to do with you. I was like ‘heck yeah, I’d love to play,’ especially as a true freshman getting experience in these big-time games.
“It was a really cool experience for me to get my feet in the water and just experience college football. I really appreciate him giving me that opportunity.”
Of course that second conversation never happened because of the coaching change. Johnson played in four games last season on special teams as a tight end and became famous for bowling over SEC Network sideline reporter Laura Rutledge while engaged in a block on the opening kickoff against Georgia.
The desire to play quarterback never waned in Johnson, and the coaching change gave him a new opportunity to win the starting job. He practiced with the quarterbacks for most of the spring, taking the occasional repetition as a wide receiver while wearing his non-contact jersey.
One more time for the people in the back: I chose the UGA v UMASS game in my @secnetwork takeover for this reason. pic.twitter.com/DhiEFB86nc
— Laura Rutledge (@LauraRutledge) July 20, 2019
However, Johnson’s position for the 2019 season is seemingly not going to be quarterback. He’s not in a gray non-contact uniform for training camp and he’s spending most of his time with the receivers. He has the occasional repetition as a quarterback, but they aren’t enough in quantity to suggest he’s a serious contender in the quarterback battle.
“It’s hard because I’m not able to warm up or do the footwork drills or practice handing off and stuff,” Johnson said. “I have to do that stuff on my own time, which obviously isn’t the same, but I just have to work that much harder on my own time to try to keep up and not fall back. I’m doing everything I can to try to stay on top of it to try and earn that job.”
Head coach Walt Bell said after the first training camp practice that Johnson was still in the mix to be the starting quarterback this season, but even he seemed to put more of an emphasis on the numerous other ways Johnson can help UMass this season. Bell said Johnson has one of the best hand-eye coordination on the team and Johnson’s 6-foot-5 frame makes him a great target within Bell’s new offense.
He said the challenge for the staff is making sure they aren’t overworking Johnson in the fast-paced practices UMass runs.
“A lot of it is allocating drill work and extra time,” Bell said. “He’s a guy who kind of has (a lot on his plate). He’ll do wideout meetings, he does quarterback meetings, he does extra quarterback meetings. He’s one of the hardest working kids on our football team, I don’t worry as much about the mental piece.
“But physically, we need to be really smart about reps, when we get him those reps, we’re doing just enough receiver stuff. He’s got a mind for it and can field the position, but quarterback is his main deal.”
As much as Johnson would prefer to play quarterback this season, he said the prospect of still seeing the field is keeping him engaged to accomplish all of his work on and off the field to be prepared at both positions. The good news for Johnson is that two of the three quarterbacks ahead of him will graduate after this season, making his future prospects of being the Minutemen’s signal-caller bright.
In the meantime, though, he’s logging the long hours at the Football Performance Center to make sure he’s as prepared as possible to make a difference against Rutgers on Aug. 30.
“Obviously, I would love to play quarterback, and if it’s not this year, hopefully I can earn it the next year,” Johnson said. “Bottom line, I want to be on that field and change the game, win and help my team out. Hearing him (praise me), that’s why I’m OK with doing this extra work to try to master both positions because I want to do what they say and I want to do it well. It’s a great feeling I have the chance to perform this year and hopefully make an impact.”
Josh Walfish can be reached at jwalfish@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshWalfishDHG. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage.